Thursday 18 June 1942 | Liverpool Walton Hospital, Liverpool, England
James Paul McCartney was born on 18 June 1942 at Liverpool Walton Hospital. His mother, Mary McCartney, had previously worked there as a nurse in the maternity ward β she knew the hospital well before she gave birth in it.
His father, Jim McCartney, was not immediately overwhelmed with paternal pride:
"He looked awful. I couldn't get over it. Horrible. He had one eye open, and he just squawked all the time. They held him up and he looked like a piece of red meat. When I got home I cried, the first time for years and years. But the next day, he looked more human. He turned out a lovely baby in the end."
β Jim McCartney
Early Childhood and Education
In 1947, McCartney began attending Stockton Wood Road Primary School, before moving on to Joseph Williams Junior School. He passed his 11 Plus examination in 1953 and won a place at the Liverpool Institute β one of the city's most academically selective grammar schools, and the same school that George Harrison would later attend.
In 1954, while riding the bus to the Institute, McCartney met George Harrison, who lived nearby. It was the beginning of a musical friendship that would shape the rest of both their lives.
The following year, the McCartney family moved to 20 Forthlin Road in Allerton, Liverpool β a modest terraced house that would become one of the most significant addresses in rock and roll history. It is now owned and maintained by the National Trust, open to visitors as a site of Beatles heritage.
The Death of Mary McCartney
On 31 October 1956, Mary McCartney died of an embolism following a mastectomy. She had been suffering from breast cancer. Paul was fourteen years old.
The loss was profound and lasting. Mary McCartney appears, obliquely and directly, throughout her son's songwriting β most famously in Let It Be (1970), in which McCartney described dreaming of his mother during a difficult period: "When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me." The song is not a religious invocation; it is a son remembering his mother.
Jim McCartney and Music
Paul's father Jim McCartney was a pianist and trumpet player β a self-taught musician who had led his own dance band, Jim Mac's Jazz Band, in the 1920s. He actively encouraged both Paul and his younger brother Mike to become musical.
Jim bought Paul a trumpet. But when skiffle swept Britain in the mid-1950s β driven by Lonnie Donegan's recording of Rock Island Line and the sudden accessibility of homemade music β Paul swapped the trumpet for a Β£15 Framus Zenith acoustic guitar. It was a left-handed swap: McCartney, naturally left-handed, restrung the guitar to play it the other way around, a habit he has maintained throughout his career.
The guitar was the instrument that changed everything. Within two years, Paul McCartney would walk into a church fΓͺte in Woolton and hear a skiffle group called The Quarrymen, fronted by a seventeen-year-old named John Lennon.
Key Facts: Paul McCartney's Early Life
| Born | 18 June 1942, Liverpool Walton Hospital |
| Full name | James Paul McCartney |
| Mother | Mary McCartney (nΓ©e Mohin), nurse |
| Father | Jim McCartney, pianist and trumpet player |
| Primary school | Stockton Wood Road Primary (from 1947); Joseph Williams Junior School |
| Secondary school | Liverpool Institute (from 1953, after passing 11 Plus) |
| Met George Harrison | 1954, on the bus to the Liverpool Institute |
| Family home | 20 Forthlin Road, Allerton, Liverpool (from 1955; now National Trust) |
| Mother died | 31 October 1956 (breast cancer; embolism following mastectomy) |
| First instrument | Trumpet (gift from Jim McCartney) |
| First guitar | Framus Zenith acoustic, Β£15, restrung left-handed |
20 Forthlin Road, Allerton, Liverpool β the McCartney family home from 1955, and the address where Paul McCartney began writing songs with John Lennon. Now owned and maintained by the National Trust.
The Beatles: Please Please Me Era
The boy from Forthlin Road who changed music forever.
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where was Paul McCartney born?
Paul McCartney was born on 18 June 1942 at Liverpool Walton Hospital. His full name is James Paul McCartney. His mother Mary had previously worked at the hospital as a nurse in the maternity ward.
Where did Paul McCartney grow up?
Paul McCartney grew up in Liverpool. The family moved to 20 Forthlin Road in Allerton in 1955 β the house where McCartney and John Lennon would later write many of their early songs together. It is now owned by the National Trust.
When did Paul McCartney meet George Harrison?
Paul McCartney met George Harrison in 1954, while riding the bus to the Liverpool Institute. Both attended the same school, and Harrison lived nearby.
What happened to Paul McCartney's mother?
Mary McCartney died on 31 October 1956 of an embolism following a mastectomy. She had been suffering from breast cancer. Paul was fourteen years old. Her memory is widely believed to have inspired the song Let It Be.
What was Paul McCartney's first guitar?
Paul McCartney's first guitar was a Framus Zenith acoustic, which cost Β£15. He swapped a trumpet (a gift from his father Jim) for the guitar when skiffle became popular in the mid-1950s. Being left-handed, he restrung it to play the other way around.
What school did Paul McCartney attend?
Paul McCartney attended Stockton Wood Road Primary School from 1947, then Joseph Williams Junior School, before passing his 11 Plus in 1953 and winning a place at the Liverpool Institute β one of Liverpool's leading grammar schools, which George Harrison also attended.
β 18 June in Beatles History
β June in Beatles History
β Paul McCartney: Beatles History, Solo Career, Songs & Legacy
β John Lennon: Beatles History, Solo Career, Songs & Legacy
β George Harrison: Beatles History, Solo Career, Songs & Legacy
β Ringo Starr: Beatles History, Solo Career, Songs & Legacy
β The Beatles Knowledge Hub
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